5/16/16
Sitting on the doorstep of another summer doldrum’s period !
5/17/16
5/18/16
The ubiquitous Netherhampton Salesrooms , Salisbury , U.K. held their end of Spring rug extravaganza today but as is their M.O. no posted results quite yet .
14 days till NYC !
5/19/16
5/20/16
5/21/16
Via Con Dios , Nick Menza ex drummer of the formiatble “Megadeth” . Much to young at 51 !
5/22/16
5/23/16
Bonham’s , L.A.’s end of the season major rug and carpet auction went off today and the results turned out to be a little bit better than they are generally used to posting up. Out of the 284 total lots offered up for your bidding pleasure only 127 failed to garner any interest . This works out to a sold percentage of right near 55% . Something of an improvement over their usual results most likely due to a somewhat better selection of beginner collectors items in the second half of the sale inventory . The room size carpets in the session were particularly weak but there were a couple of upside pops in the collectors items included in the group which is a surprise for a Bonham’s s L.A. sale in itself. Unfortunately for MR Rahimipour and the Bonham’s rug dept the overall prices fetched were conservative , at best. All said and done a reasonable job turned in by the crew at Bonham’s , L.A., this time around .
As for the 2 pieces i featured in the earlier review both sold and were included in the handful of sale high points .
Lot # 2228 , pair Shahsevan Sumak bags , pre- sale estimate , $ 1-1,500.00 . Sold for $ 2,375.00 including comm. Still a decent buy for the new owner.
Lot # 2055 , Susani , pre- sale estimate $ 1,5-2,000.00 . Sold for $ 31,250.00 including comm. Miscataloged as I suspected and certainly the high water mark of the whole sale fetching a price well deserved . An eyewitness states it may be one of the best of type ! Kudos to F.H. for his comments on the piece !
5/24/16
5/25/16
7 days till NYC !
5/26/16
5/27/16
The beginning of the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S. so business in general and the rug business in particular grind to a halt and the parties begin!
5/28/17
Rippon – Boswell day and a signal of the end of the spring rug and carpet auction season .
So after going over the unreliable “Liveauctioneers” posted results it appears this was only a modestly successful production for Mr Maltzahn and the “Rippon” rug dept. Out of the 270 total lots offered up for your bidding enjoyment only 144 ended up finding new homes . A sold percentage of right at 53+ % . Not a disaster by any means but I am sure this is far from the result they were hoping for.
Three more passes through the “Liveauctionerr’s” unaudited published results and this is my conclusion . Moderately priced items sold the best and many of the pieces with higher more aggressive starting points , over say € 10,000.00 met with the most resistance and went unsold . Keep in mind these are unaudited results and as is his m.o. Mr Maltzahn works the phones after the sale so by the time he posted the audited results some of the more expensive items could have sold and the sales totals could be somewhat higher.
Unfortunately not much in the way of serious upside surprises either but I did notice couple of items that took off , a bit .
Lot # 79 , Afshar , pre- sale estimate € 9,4-9,500.00 sold for € 15,000.00 . A well known published cover piece from an old Michael Franses catalogue at the Hugh M. Moss Gallery , 1973.
Lot # 195 , Shahsavan Sumak bag , pre- sale estimate € 3,2-3,300.00 sold for € 7,500.. I was under the impression the market was awash in this design Sumak bag but I guess someone out there thought this one was slightly different and more desirable !
As for the 3 lots I featured in the earlier review , 1 sold 2 did not .
Lot # 41, Kazak , pre- sale estimate € 4,7- 4,800.00 , unsold . This surprised me going unsold but over exposure or restoration issues maybe ?
Lot # 172 , Bokhara susani , pre- sale estimate € 16,4- 16,500.00 unsold . An aggresive starting point for this subtle design type ?
Lot # 167 , “Burkett” Saryk torba , pre- sale estimate € 11,4- 11,500.00 Sold for € 17,000.00 . In my opinion the best Turkmen in the sale and it certainly deserved the modest upside pop.
In the end it’s nothing more than a decent but unremarkable outcome for the Rippon staff so it’s onward and upwards for them till the fall auction season and hopefully a better turn of events.
5/29/26
Remember, Memorial Day this Monday , 5-30-16 .
For the time being the only thing to look forward to in the foreseeable future in the realm of rugs and textiles is the upcoming art’s fair in Boston , Ma running from June 10-12 , then it’s pretty much quiet time till the fall !
Could A , Should A , Would a , never ends up being a proper way of conducting your life , procrastination always leads to poor decision making ! Sheik Frederich , 2016 .
Song o the week , Anthrax , Breathing Lightning on For All Kings , 2016 .
